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Marinoware 1

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TheStressFactor

TheStressFactor

IS-IT--Management
Sep 24, 2002
229
US
Hello All,

I won't even pretend that I know a lot here about Adobe but I am in need of some advice and help.

We have a form right now that the company would like scanned in so people can edit it on the screen and save to disk rather than write manually, and file, hence another step towards being somewhat paperless.

I was wondering if I can scan this form to a pdf and then be able to have my users actually edit the pdf. I was told thta pdfs were made so they could not be edited but then someone sent a user here a pdf which he was able to type in and update???

Sorry if I sound like a complete fool here but like I said, adobe is not my forte.

Any help, insight, direction, or suggestions would very much appreciated.

Thank you.

Patrick
 
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Adobe Acrobat has a "form" function. You can indeed scan in a paper document, or create a PDF file from another source like a Word file.

Then, with the full version of Adobe Acrobat, you can create user data input fields. You typically draw textboxes over the top of the "blanks" on the form, that kind of thing.

Users can fill out the forms and save the data to disk, or submit the data to a web server application that may, for example, store the data in a central database.

I would suggest purchasing this book:


Also, in the future, please make your subject lines more meaningful. The next user who needs information about Acrobat Forms won't know that the thread called "Marionware" has such information!



Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
 
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Thank you very much. I will make sure I make my subject lines more meaningful down the road.

When you say the full version of adobe acrobat do you mean pro? I am running standard 6.0?
 
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Standard should allow form creation.

Tools | Advanced Editing | Forms ->

Acrobat 6.0 menus are horrible... I can never find what I'm look for. Is it Advanced and then Forms, or Tools, then Advanced Editing? Very poorly done.



Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
 
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I believe you were right by goign to advanced tools then editing then text box.

One more question (sorry). When I put in a text box and then re-open it and I click the text box to enter data, it actuallyt selects the text box first for me to move it or resize it...am I making sense here...then if I click it again I get the little text prompt line so I can start to enter text...any way to change that?

Patrick
 
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There are two modes. Form Creation vs. Data Entry. It depends on which tool you have selected when you click the various form widgets.

To enter data, you should be using the default "hand" cursor.

Also, users who open the PDF with Acrobat Reader won't have any form creation tools, so will only be able to do data entry.

In other words, this is a problem only you are having because you are actively creating the form. Everyone else will default to "Data Entry" mode.



Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
 
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That made complete sense. Took care of that. But one thing..when I open it in adobe reader I am able to go into the fields but I cannot type anything. Is there something in security that I need to disable?

Thanks so much for your help so far.

Patrick
 
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You shouldn't have to disable any security settings, unless you made some. I don't know why document security would disable form entry (else, what purpose to having a form?) but perhaps there could be something strange there.



Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
 
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Ya I am playing with it. No luck yet. WOuld it be possible for me to email you the file to take a look at it?

Let me know if thats ok with you.

Patrick
 
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You created Text Box annotations in your document:

Tools | Advanced Commenting | Text Box Tool

You need to create Text Field form objects:

Tools | Advanced Editing | Forms | Text Field Tool



Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
 
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Hi,
Sorry to jump in...I'm needing the same thing as MarinoWare. I need the user to scan forms in as pdf files and be able to edit them. She needs to be able to save the edited file (can be pdf) and also be able to make changes to the edited file if need be.
She has Adobe Capture 3.0 already. Do I still need to purchase the full version of Adobe Acrobat or is there some functionality I'm missing with Capture?
thanks
 
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After working with tgreer on this a little we discovered that Adobe Standard does not have the the Froms-Text Field Tool Option. Therefore I am purchasing an upgrade for my version of Standard to bring it up to professional.

I never messed with Adobe Capture so I am not sure if you can just do it with that.

 
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brazilhills,

You asked about "editing" a PDF. Acrobat 6.0 allows some limited editing. For full-scale changes to a PDF document, such as removing entire paragraphs or adding graphics to portions of a page, you can't do that with Acrobat. You need to edit the ORIGINAL document and then re-create the PDF.

Most PDFs are converted from other formats, such as MS-Word.



Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
 
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Okay that kinda makes sense.
This person gets lots of different types of tax forms or misc forms that are not available on line. She is wanting to be able to scan them in and use some type of computer program to fill them in and save them and print them and send them off. She has to also have the ability to edit mistakes or make changes in case she needs to and resave.
Do you think that is doable with Acrobat Pro?
thanks
 
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Yep, you can do that. You don't need Capture to do the scan. Just a scanner and whatever scanning software it comes with. That'll get you a TIFF. You can open a TIFF in Acrobat 6.0 Pro, and draw "form widgets", which are various data entry controls, over the top of the scanned image to make it function as a real electronic form.

You can save the data with the form, as a separate file, or submit the data to a web application for further processing.

Read back up the thread, and there is a link to a book by John Deubert. I know John, and highly recommend the book if you're going to do any work with Acrobat's Forms.



Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
 
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Great thanks I will do that,
she already has Capture on her computer which is why I wasn't really wanting to purchase anything else. Thanks for the help!
 
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Adobe Pro is working like a charm. One question though...when I create each form field and then open it up in reader there is a border for each form field...is there a way to make the border invisible?
 
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Yes, there is. When you create a form element, a tabbed dialog box will appear. The settings you need appear under the "Appearance" tab.

I really can't recommend Mr. Deubert's book enough. All of the details such as this are covered. No, I don't earn a commission!



Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
 
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Hmmm I will take a look now.

I am going to pick up that book. Knowing adobe well can only be that much beneficial to me.

Thanks for your help.
 
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